And Now Look At Us
by ggirl1710
Summary: Moe Howard and Larry Fine of The Three Stooges recollect the memories of show business in vaudeville and Columbia Pictures and their friendship while Moe visits Larry at the country house and hospital as usual. *OriginalsFic*


**A/N: I don't want to be known as the one who only writes sexual Three Stooges stories (even though they're of the 2012 Farrelly Brothers version) so after reading Moe Howard's book _I Stooged To Conquer_ and about Moe visiting Larry Fine at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, I decided to write a small story about the end of not only the Three Stooges act, but the end of a good partnership and friendship of two icons.**

**Though this is based on true events, it's still fiction because it's narrated by myself in how Moses Horwitz and Louis Fienberg's visits were like.**

**I don't own anything here!**

This story is dedicated to Moses Horwitz and Louis Fienberg.

_Time it was, and what a time it was, it was  
A time of innocence, a time of confidences  
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph  
Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you_

It was that time again. Time to head into Woodland Hills for another visit to Larry.

As much as Moe Howard relished the visits and always found it a pleasure to see Larry again and again, he also found it arduous to look at the ill fellow. Larry Fine's stroke had made his mouth become affected by paralysis and his speech was very thick and his hand became paralyzed. It was all too heart-aching for Moe to see his friend like this, but he'd still stick around to see his good friend.

So here they were now, Moe and Larry in their old age, sitting around, Larry sitting in his wheelchair and Moe next to him on a bench, just making best of the day. After yucking loudly from another joke Larry had told him, Moe sheepishly smiled and sighed. "You know, Larry. Time and age has certainly kicked our rears."

"Those aren't the only things that kicked us in the pants.", Larry said. "Show business chewed us up and spit us out." Larry's speech was very much slurred and thick. "But I wouldn't trade in those years for anything else." At this, Fine smiled a crooked smile that made Moe's heart ache. Every time he visits, Moe has to see him like this.

Moe could feel the urge to breakdown again so he got up and was about to excuse himself to the restroom when Larry spoke up. "I know you're not really going to the lavatory.", he said. "You just use that as an excuse to leave and weep like a child."

"What makes you so sure about that?", Moe asked defensively.

"I can see it in your eyes that you're upset.", Larry said. He insisted for Moe to sit back down next to him and after seeing that he was defeated, Moe sat back down.

"I just don't find it lovely to see you like this, Larry.", Moe said, wiping his eyes. "Curly was taken from me, from all of us, because of a stroke. And now I'm about to lose you because of one."

Larry put a shaking hand on Moe's shoulder. "I appreciate that you're concerned about me, Moe, but there's nothing to be sorry about. I entertain other patients and help out with putting on skits, and Phyllis even visits me." Larry then sighed softly. "Plus, we're all going to pass on, stroke or not. At least I won't go out like Healy did, the poor guy."

Moe nodded, then sighed. "Healy. I can still remember when I learned that he died. Oh how I cried."

"Me and Curly had to drag you out of that phone booth and into the train to Boston. I said to Curly 'Your brother is nuts; he's actually crying.' If only we knew before you actually told us."

Moe grinned and chuckled. "I was a wreck. All those years of working with him had came to that moment; and I was a wreck again with Babe and Shemp dying."

"At least Shemp had a smile on his face and left from one of his favorite pastimes; the boxing matches.", Larry said.

For a few moments the two elderly gents sat quietly until Moe broke the silence. "Those were the good times, and now here we are."

"All those years in show business in vaudeville.", Larry said. "The years with crazy Healy and then our 24 years with Columbia Pictures."

"I, too, wouldn't trade in those years for anything else.", Moe said. "Those years of making short films with Curly, Shemp, Joe, Curly-Joe, and even you were the best days of my life."

Larry nodded. "I couldn't have agreed more with you. We always made a great team, just the two of us. We'd even play some cards in our spare time."

Moe smiled. "Yes we did. Remember how I'd always teach you a lesson about borrowing money from me because you'd need to pay off a lost bet at the races?"

Larry shook his head like he was disappointed, but smirked. "You'd pull down the fly of your pants. And it worked; I never asked you for money ever again."

The two laughed and laughed as they continued to recollect the good times. "Remember when Joan and Phyllis were little girls and we had them be in Pop Goes The Easel?", Larry asked.

"That I remember. Our girls, and now they're married and have our grandchildren.", Moe said. "And as for us, well, we're sitting right here."

"We're dinosaurs.", Larry joked, but there was still sadness in that testament. "We're old as Father Time, with one of us reduced to a wheelchair and has had a stroke while the other is forced to watch his best friend's numbers slowly come up."

Both sighed softly. "I wonder if we'll still be remembered in later generations.", Larry said.

"We will be remembered in later generations.", Moe told him. "We've left a legacy behind us, a legacy that many will learn and see after all these years. Our fans will be parents or grandparents and they'll show their kids or grandkids what they missed out on, and the order will repeat and repeat.

We will be remembered, Larry."

Larry Fine died on January 24, 1975.

Moe Howard died five months later; May 4, 1975.


End file.
